With seven minutes to go, Stanford was down by five to Washington State, the preseason pick to finish 10th in the Pac-12. A loss would have left the Cardinal gasping with an 0-3 conference mark.

Instead, they got very hot. They went on a 20-4 run and won going away 78-67 at Maples Pavilion on Wednesday night, collecting their first conference win after two disappointing losses in Los Angeles.

"The only way you could get on a run like that," coach Johnny Dawkins said, "is to defend very well. We were finally able to get some big stops. (Josh) Huestis hit a big three to give us momentum."

Stanford (10-6, 1-2 Pac-12) badly needed a win, and it got this one essentially at the foul line. It sank its first 24 free throws before Andy Brown missed a couple of meaningless ones at the end.

Guards Aaron Bright and Chasson Randle have had big trouble finding the range this season. Against the Cougars (9-6, 0-2), though, their shooting stroke thawed out. Bright came off the bench to score a season-high 21 points, hitting 5-of-7 shots and 3-of-4 from three-point range. Randle (16 points) was 5-for-8 with a pair of threes in three tries.

Bright and Dwight Powell each were perfect on eight free throws. Powell scored 16 points and added 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

His roommate, Huestis, is usually the one doing the blocking, but Powell said, "Josh was on a tough matchup, so I was able to help out more than he was."

That matchup was with Brock Motum, a 6-foot-10 lefthander from Australia who's a load inside and out. He shook off a rocky start to pump 29 points for the Cougars (9-6, 0-2).

When he banked in a shot and converted a three-point play with 7:11 left, the Cougars had a 53-48 lead, and they lead the conference in scoring defense, surrendering 56.1 points a game.

Bright said, "I was thinking, 'If we lose, practice is going to be awful.' "

But Huestis' big three-pointer got Stanford going. After another Motum basket made it 57-54 WSU, Stanford went on a 14-0 run to take a 68-57 lead. Even when Bright missed a hook shot and Huestis missed a put-back, Powell was there to finish it off with a slam dunk.

Stanford entered the night shooting 40 percent from the field and 29 percent on threes, both conference lows. They shot 52 percent - 67 percent on threes - this time. Dawkins said he could tell from practices that it was only a matter of time before the shots started falling.

"When we got down," he said, "everyone dug a little deeper and made big plays."

Motum was impressed. "I'd just say they hit their shots, some contested shots; they were sometimes tough shots," he said. "At the end I was telling guys to foul, but I looked around and didn't know who to foul, because they were all making their shots."